We refer to your Official Information Act (OIA) request to the Department of
Conservation dated 18 July 2019 regarding the urine samples that were tested for
traces of 1080.

Eligibility under the OIA

In our 7 August 2019 response to a previous OIA request from you (request 19-E-
0457), we asked that you provide evidence of your eligibility to make requests under
the OIA by 14 August 2019.

We did not receive the evidence we requested within that prescribed timeframe. Therefore, we have decided to decline this request on the basis that it does not meet the eligibility criteria set out in section 12 of the OIA. I have made this decision in consideration of the resources we have available to respond to requests and our obligation and ability to respond to legitimate OIA requests in a timely manner. Future requests for information
The Department is open to responding to future requests for information on the basis that you pay for the costs incurred by the Department in preparing responses to those requests.

Schedule 1 (attached to this letter) provides an example of how we might calculate those costs. That example considers a request which will require the Department to spend a minimum of 8 hours to prepare a response (so effectively one working day). I note that the charging rate we have used in that example is consistent with the rate prescribed in the Ombudsman’s guidelines for charging for official information.

If we receive an information request from you in future, we will scope the work required to respond and fix a charge accordingly. We would then require full payment of that amount to the Department before we begin preparing a response.

You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of this decision. Information about how to make a complaint is available at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800 802 602.